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Friday, February 22, 2008

Lee bought an Air Hog Helicopter Wednesday. It's Friday, the helicopter is a remote control toy and it still works. The best part is that it really is entertaining for the whole family. Lee can make it hover just out of reach of Ray and Ray will jump and laugh, thoroughly entertained, needing nothing from me for the moment. And just when the buzzing noise starts to get on my nerves it needs recharging and I get 20 minutes of relative quiet. School work gets done and then its more buzzing and giggling and jumping and wow!ing from all of us at his skill in maneuvering the aircraft. This toy is a winner and it's so small it's barely noticeable.

Call me a copycat, but when the info is available in the blogosphere (and free), I'll probably use it. Today Dawn left a link to her ideas from last year. I jumped at the chance to put together a day's worth of fun. Ironically, we are reading Gary Paulsen's, Hatchet, so we started the day with a chapter read aloud and then I read the Cherry Tree Legend. Lee enjoyed the story, being that he is a boy with a hatchet. It was his 8th birthday present (now he's 9). Everyone colored the hatchet and cherry tree picture. Grace and Lee traced Washington's head from a dollar bill onto their picture as well and Lou wrote George Washington across the top of her picture. We examined the dollar bill and talked about the symbols and words. Later in the day I made Cherry Oatmeal cookies with Ray's help.

So, Thank You to Dawn for helping to make an otherwise ordinary February Friday into something a bit special. Since the beginning of this pregnancy school has been very schoolish and I'm not liking it a bit. I'm appreciating it because Grace and Lee can tool along lesson after lesson without extreme input from me, but at the same time that's not why we homeschool. We homeschool to spend time together discussing, exploring, learning without the schedule of a real school day. Now that I'm almost 14 weeks along I can tell the "sickness" will be walking out the door soon. I feel like getting up in the morning again, I haven't thrown up for real in a few days, just the gagging, nauseous feeling remains. I feel ready to write up some new plans for school, something that involves fun and not just lessons.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Math and Language lessons were pushed aside for much more interesting talk today. What you ask could be more interesting than math and language? Will you believe politics, religion and money? Wisconsin's turn to vote has finally arrived and with that has come a number of calls from Obama and Clinton and one call from McCain. The kids were wondering why certain family members vote Democrat since they believe in ProChoice. We talked about a number of the issues at stake and how some issues are more important and those are the issues which make up a persons mind. Being pregnant the issue of abortion is dear to Grace and Lee's heart. Of course, they can't understand why some people would believe it to be ok to abort a baby in the early months. Then we moved on to religion, too much to discuss here and money, another good topic. How did the conversation end? Debt is dumb, Cash is king. I guess the kids do listen to talk radio with me.

It's been two and a half months since I've posted last. So much has happened: homeschooling continues, winter began and won't let up, and I found myself pregnant for the 5th time. It's been hard to get excited because I've been so sick, both pregnancy related and viral/bacterial related. The snow, blowing snow, drifting snow, piling up snow hasn't helped with my mood. It's the first year in a while where I truly feel affected in a negative way by the short, grey days. Danielle Bean has started a "Your Turn" about the winter blahs and what we do to combat them. So jump over there and read all the great ideas for beating the winter blahs. Since perfumey smells really bother me right now, I opted to light a carrot cake candle in the kitchen and a cinnamon bun candle in the bathroom. Sure hope it helps.

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A Little About Me

Hello, I'm Jennifer, a former public school science teacher, now homeschooling our seven children. I love sharing our experience with homeschooling special needs, especially dyslexia and Down syndrome. You'll also find plenty of family approved cranberry recipes, resources for homeschooling your high schooler, and all the antics of a large Catholic family. Look around; and please don't be shy - comments always welcome.